Segregationstendenzen in russischen Großstädten: die Entwicklung elitärer Wohnformen in St. Petersburg und Moskau

Abstract

In this article, the market for high-price housing (Russian: "elitnye kvartiry") in St. Petersburg and Moscow is analysed as an important indicator for the creation of new regional patterns in post-socialist cities. In both cities, segregation processes have been observed in the new Russian upper class. The identified zones of high status housing have not been formed new, but rather essentially represent an historical continuity from the pre-Revolutionary and also Soviet roots. One reason for this obvious continuity of historical structures is in the preservation of the basic city patterns and architectural substance, thus meaning that the segregation of the rich is to e viewed as a result of the available buildings nd their quality. The expansive homogeneity f mass housing construction outside f the historical centres means that the new segregation tendencies can only be observed in the centre and in the suburban regions. The typical sectoral patterns of socioeconomic segregation were, however, already designed in the axis development during the Soviet Union, and will remain in place. It can be explained from an historical point of view why the demand in the high price segment is concentrated on the centre: neither city has an upper class district outside of the city centre, as can often be found in western cities. Only a very few cottage settlements and elitist housing estates can be found at a medium distance to the centre . There were favoured districts during the Soviet era in the outskirts of the cities, but these areas rarely satisfy the increased demands of the new rich people. The spatial concentration of the elitist housing in the city centre reminds of the preindustrial city structure model according to Sjoberg (1965, p. 95), in which the highest housing area is closest to the focus of political power, but also of the "reverse" Burgess type South American model or in a more general sense of the city structure models in many emerging countries. At the same time, however, it is possible to draw parallels to the gentrification of many central European and North American cities. This confirms the segregation and polarisation tendencies, which are connected with the economic and social transformation to the characteristic city structures of post-industrial global cities (e.g. Sassen 1991). An example of this can be found in the capital Moscow, unlike in St. Petersburg, where the spatially defined and enclosed areas of higher prices are more developed to meet the requirements of the new functions of a global economy (Gritsal 1997). In this context, the city centre is given a more homogenous character in terms of socio-economics, as it is not only a question of the upper class settling there, but rather that less wealthy inhabitants are moved or move to other areas, generally in the suburban districts. If we take the economic specialisation of the city centres and the increasing segregation tendencies of the population as an indicator of future developments, then we must fear that the centres of these two cities will increasingly become places for a few rich people, instead of the centre of a citizens city.